Lemon Whey Pie Recipe • The Prairie Homestead (2024)

Three reasons you shouldmake lemon whey pie:

1. Itis amouth-watering way to use up extrawhey- a very common problem if you make a lot of cheese or own dairy goats or cows.

2. It’s delightfully old-fashioned and just happens to come from the 1965 edition of the Farm Journal’s Complete Pie Cookbook which belonged to my grandmother.

3. It’s really, reeealllllly good. Really.

It hasofficially earned a spot in my recipe collection. Now I justneed to update my popular 16 Ways to Use Whey post and change the number to 17!

Is it the most super ultra-nourishing pie you’ll ever find? Er, probably not. Yes, it’s made with real food, but it does include a generous amount of sugar, and the whey is cooked, not raw….

That being said, to me, dessert is, well, dessert, and I don’t feel bad about splurging every once and a while. Especially on a vintage pie like this one.

(Like usual, some of the links below are affiliate links, which means I may or may notget a small commission if you purchase something after clicking on the link. It doesn’t cost you any more, but any commission I receive helps to support the work I do here on the blog, so thank you!)

Lemon Whey Pie Recipe

Ingredients:

• 1 pre-baked 9″ pie pastry shell(Get my super-simple recipe that uses healthy fats here.)

Filling:

• 1 1/2 cups whey (it must be fresh whey, any sort of powdered whey stuff will not work. Here’s my post that explains more about real whey.)
• 1 cup organic sugar (or if you must, regular white sugar will work in a pinch)
• 3 1/2 Tablespoons arrowroot powder or organic cornstarch
• 3 egg yolks (save the whites for the meringue topping below)
• 1 1/2 Tablespoons butter, melted
• 1/2 teaspoon salt (I use this one)
• 1/4 cup lemon juice (I like the 100% real organic stuff like this kind)

Meringue Topping:

• 3 egg whites
• 1/4 teaspoon cream of tartar
• 1/4 teaspoon salt
• 1/2 teaspoon real vanilla extract
• 6 Tablespoons organic sugar

Filling Instructions:

Preheat your oven to 350 degrees.

Bring 1 cup of whey to a boil in a medium saucepan. In a separate bowl, whisk the sugar, arrowroot powder, and the remaining 1/2 cup of cold whey until it forms asmooth paste.

Add thepaste mixtureinto the hot whey, stirring constantly until itthickens.

In another small bowl, lightly beat the egg yolks and combine with the butter, salt, and lemon juice.

Pour a small amount of the hot mixture into the egg yolk mixture and stir. This is called “tempering” and it ensures that you don’t end up with bits of scrambled eggs in your lovely lemon whey. (Trust me, that’s less than charming…)

Add the tempered mixture back into the saucepan, and cook the entire concoction for an additional two minutes, stirring constantly.

Pour the filling into the prebaked pie shell, and set aside while you prepare the meringue.

Meringue Instructions:

Use an electric mixer (I use my Kitchenaid) to beat the egg whites, cream of tartar, salt, and vanilla extract in a bowl until the entire mixture is foamy, but not yet starting to thicken.

Begin to add the sugar, one tablespoon at a time. Beat thoroughly after each addition. You are looking for the sugar to dissolve completely. (Otherwise, your meringue will “weep,” whichproduces the tiny droplets that you can see in my photos. Thankfully, weepy meringue still tastes just as yummy as non-weepy meringue.)

Once all of the sugar is added, continue to beat the mixture at medium-high speed until it forms stiff, sharp peaks when you lift the mixer from the bowl.

Once you reach that stage, it’s ready for your pie.

Place large spoonfuls of the meringue around the edges of the pie and use the back of your spoon to gently “seal” it to the crust. This will help keep it from shrinking. Once you have a ring of meringue around the outside, dump the remaining meringue in a mound in the center and smooth out evenly.

You can use the back of your spoon to make the little spikes you see in my photos.

Carefully place the pie in your preheated oven and bake at 350 degrees for 12-15 minutes. Allow it to cool on the counter before serving.

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Kitchen Notes:

• I haven’t tried this recipe with any sort of alternative sweeteners. I’m pretty sure that Stevia wouldn’t work very well, and I’m worried that Sucanat would give it too much of a molasses-taste. If you decide to experiment, come back and let me know how it worked!
• If I know we aren’t going to eat this pie right away, I stick it in the fridge.
• My book saysone teaspoon of lemon juice can be substituted for the cream of tarter in the meringue. I haven’t tried that substitution yet, but it sounds like it would work.
• Don’t want to make meringue? Try baking the curd, and then serving it with a generous dollop of sweetened whipped cream instead.
• As written, the meringue on this pieisn’t very tall. If you are looking for a sky-high pile of meringue, increase the recipe to 5 egg whites and 10 Tablespoons of sugar.

According to the Complete Pie Cookbook, farm wives commonly used leftover whey in their pies to help stretch the more expensive lemon juice. And you’d never know the difference- it tastes exactly like “pure” lemon meringue pie to my taste buds. 🙂

It’s the ultimate, old-fashioned end to a summer BBQ on the homestead.